Motion in a Straight Line

1. The velocity-time graphs represent the motion of two cars, Car A and Car B. Justify all
answers thoroughly.
(a) Which car is moving faster at the start of the motion?
(b) Which car ends up farther from its starting point?
(c) Which car experiences a greater magnitude of acceleration?
2. The following questions refer to the preceding position-time graph, which is the
readout of an eastward-pointing motion detector. Justify all answers thoroughly.
(a) Rank the speed of the object in each of the four labeled regions of the graph, from
fastest to slowest. If the object has the same speed in two or more regions, indicate
so in your ranking.
(b) What total distance did the object travel in the 12 s, including all parts of the
motion?
(c) How far from the object’s starting point did the object end up after the 12 s?
(d) Which of the following objects could reasonably perform this motion?
(A) A baby crawling
(B) A sprinter
(C) A car on the freeway
(D) A jet airplane during takeoff
(E) An amoeba in a petri dish
3. A ball is dropped from rest near Earth. Neglect air resistance. 11 Justify all answers
thoroughly.
(a) About how far will the ball fall in 3 s?
(b) The same ball is dropped from rest by an astronaut on the Moon, where the free-
fall acceleration is one-sixth that on Earth. In 3 s, will the ball on the moon fall:
(A) One-sixth as far as the ball on Earth
(B) One-36th as far as the ball on Earth
(C) The same distance as the ball on Earth
(D) Six times as far as the ball on Earth
(E) Thirty-six times as far as the ball on Earth

4. Four projectiles, A, B, C, and D, were launched from and returned to level ground. The
preceding data table shows the initial horizontal speed, initial vertical speed, and time of
flight for each projectile. Justify all answers thoroughly.
(a) Rank the projectiles by the horizontal distance traveled while in the air.
(b) Rank the projectiles by the maximum vertical height reached.
(c) Rank the projectiles by the magnitude of their acceleration while in the air.

Solutions to Practice Problems

1. (a) On a velocity-time graph, speed is read off of the vertical axis. At time = 0, Car A
has a higher vertical axis reading than Car B, so Car A is moving faster.
(b) Displacement is determined by the area under a velocity-time graph. Car A’s
graph is a small triangle; Car B’s graph is a trapezoid of obviously larger area. Both
cars’ graphs are always above the horizontal axis, so both cars move in the same
direction the whole time; Car B moves farther away from its starting point.
(c) Acceleration is the slope of the velocity-time graph. Car A’s graph is steeper, so its
acceleration is larger. [Sure, the slope of Car A’s graph is negative, but that just
means acceleration is in the negative direction, whatever that is; the question asks
for the “magnitude” of the acceleration, meaning the amount, regardless of
direction.]
2. (a) IV > I = III > II. Speed is the steepness on a position-time graph, without
reference to direction (i.e., whether the slope is positive or negative). Segment IV is
steepest. Segments I and III seem to be the same steepness. Segment II has 0 slope,
so it represents an object that doesn’t move.
(b) It’s a position-time graph, so read the vertical axis to figure out where the object
is at any time. The object travels from its original position at x = 0 m to x = 40 m,
then backtracks another 20 m. The total distance traveled is 60 m.
(c) It’s a position-time graph, so read the vertical axis to figure out where the object
is at the beginning and after 12 s. At the beginning the object was at x = 0 m; after
12 s, the object was at position x = 20 m. The object traveled 20 m. (If your
justification didn’t explicitly mention that the object started at x = 0 m, or that you
must find the difference between the final and initial positions, then it’s
incomplete.)
(d) At its top speed in segment IV, the object travels 20 m in about 2 s. That’s a speed
of 10 m/s. If you’re familiar with track and field, you’ll know that the best
sprinters run the 100-m dash in somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 s, so the
sprinter is an obvious choice. It might be easier 12 to approximate a conversion to
miles per hour. The result of 1 m/s is a bit more than 2 miles per hour. This object
goes between 20 and 25 miles per hour. This is the speed of a car on a
neighborhood street. There is no way a baby or an amoeba can keep up; takeoff
speeds for most airplanes are at least in the high tens of miles per hour; and you’d
be a danger to yourself and others if you drove on the freeway at 25 miles per hour.

3. (a) Use the equation with v 0 = 0 and a = 10 m/s per

second. You should get about 45 m.
(b) In the equation we use in (a), the time of 3 s is still the same, as is v 0 . The only
difference is the acceleration a , which is in the numerator and is neither squared
nor square rooted. Therefore, reducing a by one-sixth also reduces the distance
fallen by one-sixth. That’s choice A. (By the way, if your answer is A but your
justification included “setting up a proportion” or anything without specific
reference to this equation, your answer is incorrect.)
4. (a) Horizontal speed remains constant throughout a projectile’s flight. Use
horizontally with the acceleration term equal to zero. That
means you’re multiplying the horizontal speed by the time of flight. This gives D >
C > A = B.
(b) Regardless of the time of flight, the vertical speed is directly related to the
maximum height reached. Why? Use vertically with v f = 0

and a = 10 m/s per second. The bigger the v 0 , the bigger the Δx . So A > C > B =
D.
(c) Easy—all objects in free fall have a downward acceleration of 10 m/s per second. A
= B = C = D.
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